These keyboards rely on magnets and springs and activate by sensing changes in the magnetic field. Popularized by Dutch keyboard startup Wooting, these switches rely on the Hall Effect and have actually been around since the 1960s.

You can change how far you need to press down to register the keystroke, as well as for the release point.

The one thing you can’t change, though, is the switch’s resistance. Despite all the talk of magnets, that’s still handled by the spring inside the switch, after all (for the moment, until the xyz is released).

But interestingly, this also means with temperature differences, you may also have to “calibrate” your keyboard. The price point for the Akko MOD007B PC Santorini keyboard at around US$110 to $150 is certainly not more expensive than many mechanical keyboards.

See https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/07/magnets-are-switching-up-the-keyboard-game/

#technology #keyboards

    • Da Bald Eagul@feddit.nl
      9·
      1 year ago

      Wooting has options for emulating controller inputs, like joystick axis and triggers. The default is a binary toggle for which the actuation can be changed, though. Makes sense in regard to typing and such.

    • AltheaHunter@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I’ve never tried one, but I tdid look at them last time I got a new kb (2 years ago?). IIRC you can do pressure sensitivity, but meaningfully mapping that to game/software controls is often difficult. You can also adjust the trigger point if you’re using “standard” mode, and I think you can even set a different action for passing the trigger point and bottoming out the key.